Halloween is a beloved holiday celebrated by people from all walks of life across the country. Thousands spend the spooky season decorating, gathering sweets, wearing costumes, and enjoying the crisp weather. St. Joseph’s Academy is no exception, as the school hosts events dedicated to this delightfully eerie celebration.
On the Thursday before Halloween, the student body participated in school-wide trick-or-treating. They went door to door, receiving an abundance of candy from their class’s LACE teachers. Students were able to experience the festivities with their friends, resulting in the sounds of laughter and excitement echoing throughout the hallways. Freshman Lail Jankowshi describes her first experience with Halloween at St. Joseph’s Academy.
“I liked the trick or treating part during LACE…my middle school did nothing [for Halloween], so it was something new, but it was really fun!” said Lail.
Simultaneously, the door decorating contest was underway. Before the judging, members of each LACE group were hard at work preparing their classroom doors in hopes of being named the winner. As students trick-or-treated, they witnessed the inventiveness of their peers by admiring the effort that was dedicated to the spectacular decorations. Ms. Howley from the Math Department, whose LACE group was declared victorious, describes her opinion on the door decorating contest.
“ I love the door decorating contest. That kind of thing is my jam and my LACE crushed it as always. But I also love that it is optional. I think that letting LACE groups decide if they want to participate makes it more fun when everyone in the group decides yes!” said Ms. Howley.
Generally, the student body agrees that the event is a fun way to celebrate the holiday with their friends and teachers while revitalizing the Halloween spirit for the days ahead.
This event displayed the enthusiasm of the school, and Halloween at SJA was nowhere near over. On October 31st, the official celebration at the Academy kicked off. Students arrived in a plethora of creative costumes, showcasing their excitement for the autumn holiday. As soon as they entered the school, they were met with screams of terror from the annual senior-run Haunted Hallway. The seniors made sure that this hallway was the scariest yet, dressing up and decorating the area with a horror Barbie theme. The hard work of the seniors contributed to a terrifying yet fun start to a fantastic day.
During Event Time, STUCO held its special Halloween Costume Contest, displaying some of the best costumes students and teachers fabricated for the day. Several people went onstage to be judged by the audience based on the most thunderous applause. Many contenders had distinguished themselves in the competition, but math teacher Ms. Hailey Meersman dressed in a Benjamin Franklin costume took the win, gathering loud cheers from a majority of the theater. Even so, the students of SJA all had amazing costumes that were essential to a terrific day. Sophomore Kathryn Byrne shares this sentiment, describing her opinion on the costumes she saw.
“I did like the costume contest, and I really liked how it was in the theater because everybody got to see it, instead of being in the gym [like last year] and not everybody got to see the costumes. I really liked Izzy Stadnyk and Kathryn Portman’s costumes as Cody and Chicken Joe, which I thought were really funny. There were also Cecil Simpson and Cate Frew’s costumes as Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus, so there were a lot of really good group costumes this year,” said Kathryn.
Overall, the SJA body can agree that Halloween this year was a smashing success, made all the better by the hard work of those who planned and set up the activities. Everyone had a great time with their friends, and students can’t wait to see what next year has in store.
